January 2025 – Snapshots

First Partaker

“Practice what you preach”; I heard it often growing up, like a bedrock shaping my character and values. I’m grateful for the parental and cultural influences, but I never realized where this wisdom originally came from.

Turns out the credit goes to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.” (Mt 23:2-3) He calls out the “Do as I say, not as I do” crowd, unwilling to submit to the counsel they impose on others. Instinctively we agree; this is weak, undisciplined, presumptuous, hypocritical, harmful. (Mt 7:15-16)

Christ’s wisdom here may be key to understanding His exhortation: “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.” (2Ti 2:6) It’s an interesting insight to offer His servants and it isn’t obvious what He’s driving at. Like any obscure spiritual nugget, it’s worth some prayerful meditation.

The immediate context is finding strength in Christ to live out the practical reality of the spiritual life (1) while discipling others in the Way. (2) God recognizes how incredibly difficult this is and exhorts us to think like soldiers, hardening ourselves, toughening up for battle. (3) He’s inviting us into 100% commitment and dedication, minimizing unnecessary temporal distractions to focus on pleasing only Him. (4)

He then employs the metaphor of athletes training to win the gold: we must compete according to the rules of the game. (5) Such is God’s set up for this intriguing insight: the laboring farmer must first partake of his harvest. (6) We should ponder what He’s saying, looking to God to help us understand it all. (7)

The farming metaphor appears to reference the Torah precept regarding a man who’s planted a vineyard but hasn’t yet eaten anything produced by it: he is not allowed to engage in battling God’s enemies. (De 20:6) Evidently, spiritual warfare is for those who’ve grown strong in Christ by living out of what they’ve been sowing, who’re thriving as they eat of the fruit of their own journey. (2Co 10:3-5)

As we encourage each other in living for Christ (as we’re all called to do – He 10:24-25), we must be living for Christ ourselves, working out the practical details of what it really means to follow Him in every aspect of our lives. In other words, our theology and doctrine must be down-to-earth, livable, and we must be following our own teaching: we must be practicing what we preach. (Php 4:9)

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The Same Loveth Little

In the story of the forgiven woman (Lk 7:47), Christ reveals a natural correlation between love for Him and a perception of how much one has been forgiven. So, if I only love Christ Jesus a little bit, this is because I think I have only been forgiven a little bit.

This is certainly a key to help me grow in my love for Yeshua Messiah, into an overwhelming appreciation and thanksgiving for His willingness to redeem me: I may explore my own forgiveness by exploring my own sinfulness, for all my sin is primarily against Christ, the eternal Creditor with Whom I have to deal. (He 4:13) So, how much have I been forgiven?

It isn’t hard to acknowledge that my sins are many, and that they’re inexcusable. (Ro 3:19) Yet these are merely the sins I am aware of, which I can recall, and I happen to think they are not so very bad; I have never been drunk or murdered anyone, nor ever even wanted to experience sex outside of marriage. I’ve been pretty good so far, at least by human standards. (2Co 10:12)

But there are certainly many other sins long forgotten, where I knew I was sinning against God and was only afraid of being caught. Of these I have also been freely forgiven. Yet even then, being forgiven a bit of youthful mischief doesn’t move my heart to tears. (Ps 25:7)

Then I must proceed in faith to acknowledge that these are not the worst of my sins, for I have learned to measure sin by the harm I think it causes others, and whether I think they deserve it or not. (Ge 3:22a)

Yet God does not measure sin this way; He evaluates sin based on how I have disvalued and dishonored Him — in other words, He is looking at my behavior in light of the First and Great Command, that I love Jehovah God with my whole heart, with my entire being. (Mt 22:37-38)

In other words, the greatest of my sins are in violating the greatest command, and these sins are against an infinitely worthy God, so they are effectively infinite in degree or magnitude (Ps 103:11): I really have no idea how much God has actually forgiven me. (Is 6:5) So, I am, in fact, largely clueless about the very worst of my sins; the severity is largely hidden from me. (Is 64:6)

And further, as if this were not enough, what of all the sin I would have committed, even as a believer, if God had not mercifully intervened and restrained me? (Ge 20:6) What manner of sin lies hidden here, for which I would certainly be guilty had God not been holding me back all this time? (Php 2:13) This is certainly real, yet also a bit clinical and academic: I struggle to appreciate it fully from my heart.

Ultimately, I must also consider my eternal fate if Father God had not chosen me to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. (2Th 2:13) What horrendous crimes might I have committed apart from the irresistible grace of God? These might have exceeded the depravity of every other living soul, past present and future. Since I would certainly have committed them if God had left me entirely to myself, I must account that I have been released even from these, though I did not actually commit them. (1Ti 1:15)

Until I can stand alongside the forgiven woman, weeping with rejoicing before Jesus Christ in overwhelming appreciation for the infinite mercy He has lavished upon me, washing His feet with my tears, I need God to continue to help me understand the infinite magnitude of my sin, and the incredible mercy He has shown me in saving my soul from death. (1Ti 1:16)

The place to return and wait for such grace is the foot of the Cross, the throne of grace (He 4:16), contemplating the infinite price Christ Jesus freely paid on my behalf. (2Co 5:21) Any lesser penalty would have been insufficient to atone for my crimes.

The King Himself, Who has every right to be angry with me (1Th 1:10), has chosen instead to wash me from my sins in His own blood. (Re 1:5) and adopt me as His own son. (Ro 8:15) It cost Him everything to do this for me … literally everything. (He 4:16) It makes perfect sense to start here, and stay here, until I get it. (1Co 2:2) He will help me. (Ro 7:24-25a)

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Jehovah by Wisdom

The vast wisdom and understanding Jehovah God displayed in creating the universe is indeed profound. (Pr 3:19); His works are manifold, all designed with infinite precision. (Ps 104:24) One way to explore them lies in what physicists call the fine-tuning of the universe.

Pillars of Creation, J. Webb Space Telescope

For example, the gravitational force G, describing how objects are attracted to one another, must be within a range of one part in 10⁶⁰; if it were slightly stronger or weaker, the universe would not support complex life forms. This is like randomly selecting a particular atom out of all the atoms in the Milky Way galaxy.

There are evidently at least a dozen other parameters, such as the strong and weak nuclear forces, the electromagnetic force and the cosmological constant, which must each be set within a very narrow range (say 2-5%) along with G in order for the universe to support human life. If any of these values are not set correctly, our universe doesn’t work for us.

The obvious implication of this fine-tuning is that there is a wise Creator Who designed the universe very wisely for a specific purpose (Ro 1:20): to support human life so He can reveal Himself to us and through us. While this conclusion isn’t scientific per se (since it isn’t an experiment we can repeat), it is exceptionally strong circumstantial evidence, especially when considering similar arguments in Origin of Life research, that should be a slam dunk in any rational discussion of our existence.

The reason this particular evidence is so strong is that there are only two basic alternatives here: either the universe is designed by God, or it isn’t, in which case it happened randomly by mere chance. Since atheists typically reject the first option a priori, they try to explain how the apparent design of our universe could be the result of purely random processes.

Since atheists can’t rationally expect anyone to believe an entire universe (ours) exploded spontaneously out of nothing with all of these parameters randomly set perfectly correctly on the first go-round under such astronomically low odds, they ask us all to believe there must be an infinite number of universes randomly springing spontaneously out of nothing. An infinite number of randomly generated universes is the only way to overcome the fine-tuning argument, to get a universe with all the right physical properties without a Creator.

But there is no scientific evidence of the existence of any other universe except our own, and it would appear there never could be, by definition.

There is also no scientific explanation for how any universe springs into existence ex-nihilo (out of nothing) all on its own without an independent causal agent to create it. The very concept is inherently self-contradictory on a very basic level.

So, the only way to evade the fine-tuning argument for an intelligent Creator God appears to be to presume the existence of a mindless, inert machine (effectively, a sort of god) randomly creating universes with no purpose or intent. In other words, we can believe in a living God or an inert, mindless one.

Why would anyone cling to the remote and unscientific concept of an inert, mindless god rather than trust in the Living God? Perhaps it is an unwillingness to submit to the living God and honor Him. (Ro 1:21) I don’t see any other reasonable way to account for such behavior.

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The Elders

The Church of the Living God has both a distinct leadership structure and a unique purpose, and each of these complements the other; if we get either one wrong, we’ll likely get the other one wrong as well.

Many churches today are led by a pastor, yet a pastor isn’t one who is called to lead the church; the Holy Spirit calls pastors (i.e. shepherds) to care for the spiritual well-being of others, part of His overall design for edifying the body of Christ. (Ep 4:11-12) This includes counseling, encouraging teaching and mentoring others, but this is not the same as leadership. When the pastor leads the church, the intended purpose and function of the church is largely stifled.

Many other churches are led by a group of men called elders, as if Elder is an office or leadership position in the local church. Yet, once again, this is not found in Scripture: there is no church office of Elder; the term refers to the older men of the congregation (1Ti 5:1), not to an official position. Yet, even the elders aren’t called to lead the church, they’re not supposed to be calling all the shots. The church is in fact largely incapacitated by such a dynamic.

The older men of the congregation are expected to be spiritually mature (Ti 2:2), instructing, mentoring, counseling and guiding others to help nourish and protect spiritual community. (1Pe 5:1-3) This is organic leadership by example, not by having any official position. (1Ti 5:17)

The Scripture defines the role of Bishop (1Ti 3:1) for providing a more general oversight of the church, and it clearly describes the qualifications for this function. (2-7) The older men of the congregation (the elders) who meet these character qualifications may be ordained (Ti 1:5) (appointed, set in place or acknowledged) to be bishops (7); these men accept more accountability for the general health of the local Body of Christ (He 13:17), engaging in broader, more encompassing responsibility to take care of the church as a whole. (1Ti 1:5)

This role of Bishop comprises the character qualities expected in elders who have lived a godly life, so the older men who are spiritually qualified may be officially recognized and ordained to fulfill this role in the Church. Indeed, in some churches, most or all of the elders might qualify, so the terms elder and bishop are sometimes used interchangeably (Ac 20:17, 28), yet there are still key differences which should not be overlooked.

An older man who isn’t fully qualified to be a bishop (such as the Apostle Paul himself, since he was unmarried and had no children or household to manage) will generally still have much wisdom and experience enabling him to mentor, care for and disciple others. Such men are still considered leaders in their civil communities and families (De 22:15), so it will be natural for them to have similar roles within spiritual communities (1Ti 5:19-20), though the responsibility of officially representing the church to the outside world falls to those who are entirely qualified and above reproach: the bishops. (1Ti 3:7)

Yet none of these giftings or roles qualify one to lead the church: oversight is not necessarily the same as leadership, in the sense of making decisions. The church is to be led by the brothers: the congregation of men as a whole. This is the key leadership role in the church, and if we don’t get this right, everything else breaks down. (1Ti 3:15)

The brothers are all expected to actively participate in meetings to edify each other (which is the purpose of the church) (1Co 14:26) and to reach decisions by consensus (Mt 18:17), effectively defining the leadership structure.

In God’s design, all the men of the congregation come together to share out of their own personal life experiences, of their struggles and victories, offering up their own understanding of scripture for the entire congregation to consider, the brothers debating and validating everything as needed for the edification of all, teaching, challenging, edifying and exhorting one another in the Faith. (He 10:25) This just doesn’t happen when a small group has decided they’re in charge, and this is no coincidence.

It should not be surprising that it is nearly impossible to find any churches meeting now like the early church did; the biblical leadership model of the local church is completely foreign to most of us today, yet we wonder why the churches are so broken, failing to see the connection. In working out the details of obeying key biblical patterns and principles for the local church, we find these two concepts of purpose and leadership inextricably interconnected by divine design.

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